PURPOSE: To shorten the processing time of an inference system regardless of the rule description method by using a means which stores the information on the past inference results and controlling the evaluating order of premise clauses based on said information stored in the memory means.
CONSTITUTION: A rule memory part 10 stores the sorting type rules of the IFWTHEN forms. A sorting result distribution memory part 9 stores the sorting frequency. A decision tree production part 8 refers to the distribution of the part 9 and the rule of the part 10 to produce a decision tree to minimize the expecting frequency needed for questions and stores the decision three into a decision tree memory part 6. A question order control part 5 interprets and executes the tree of the part 6 and has conversations with users through a conversation interface part 4 and updates the part 9 via a sorting result distribution updating part 7 at a time point when the sorting result is finally obtained. Thus, it is possible to shorten the expecting time needed for sorting jobs and to avoid the useless questioning frequency.
MASUISHI TETSUYA
IIZUKA YUMIKO
